small place to rent in town-a studio apartment over the
health food store. I just put down a deposit this morning,
and the lady said I could move in as soon as I liked. So I went
L.
218Melody Carison
ahead and moved my things over there this afternoon. Now
all I need is to get some groceries before the store closes
tonight."
"I'm glad for you, Gavin. But I hope you didn't think I
was trying to get rid of you. There was no big hurry."
"I know, and I appreciate your hospitality. It was inter-
esting getting better acquainted with Michael-what a char-
acter."
"So, you've met Michael?" said Clyde as they walked
Maggie to her car parked by the newspaper office.
"Yeah, he's been staying at Maggie's too.,,
"Trying to give the hotel some competition, young lady?"
asked Clyde wryly.
"I was just trying to help out," she answered stiffly, still
bothered that Jed had not observed her with Clyde tonight.
If only she'd been able to say something more meaningful to
him before he left for his trip tomorrow. There was still
email, but who knew when he'd check that? Then she
remembered that Michael was going along too. Perhaps
she'd get another chance to bump into Jed when he picked
him up Michael at her house. "Thanks for dinner, Gavin. I'll
see you two on Monday."
Once at home, her house seemed oddly empty and quiet.
First, she went up to Spencer's room. His backpack was
flung across his bed as though he'd been there, but he didn't
seem to be around now. There was no trace of Michael
either; in fact, his room was so neat she wondered if he'd
actually moved out. And although Audrey's car was out in
the driveway, she didn't seem to be anywhere in the main
house. But then, she'd been spending more time out in her
own little place lately, telling her daughter she needed to get
back to being a bit more independent. Maggie had wondered
if it was just to get some peace and quiet, although that
should have been no problem tonight. Instead of calling her Looking for You All My Life219
mom, she decided to walk over and see if she could find Out
what everyone was up to. She admired again the strings of
white lights decorating the front of her house, and as she
stepped from her porch she now noticed that her mother had
put some lights around the window and door of the little
guest house too, along with a pair of big red bows on each
door post. Very cheery.
"Hello?" she called as she knocked quietly, hoping her
mother hadn't already gone to bed. "Anybody home?"
"Come on in," called Audrey from inside.